Bandalier has helped startups connect with hundreds of entry-level BDRs, SDRs, and inside sales representatives. Every team’s needs are unique, and understanding how to hire the right inside sales representative for each role is essential. These are just a few of the qualities that we evaluate while pairing team members with growing sales teams:
Experience
As you look for the right inside sales representative to join your team, their experience will likely play a major role in your decision. Will your team benefit from shaping an entry-level BDR into the exact sales rep you need? Or will you be better off hiring a more experienced sales rep? Each path presents unique benefits.
Working with entry-level BDRs and SDRs gives you the opportunity to train your newest team member from the ground up. You’ll shape their understanding of sales and their approach to prospecting. However, you’ll also need to invest heavily in their training. For teams that are operating near their maximum capacity, making space for training may sound daunting. In those situations, it may be better to search for a more experienced SDR. They’ll understand the basics of sales and will likely ramp up more quickly than an entry-level sales rep.
Regardless of the amount of experience you want your new team members to have, consider where they’ve built that experience. Entry-level sales reps who have worked in customer-facing industries, such as retail and hospitality, are likely to have a wide variety of transferable skills. Experienced sales reps will develop unique habits based on the roles and industries they’ve worked in. Ask detailed questions about their experiences to ensure that their skills will align with your team’s needs.
Coachability
If you want to find the right inside sales representatives, prioritize coachability. Your structured interview process should include a question or exercise that evaluates candidates’ coachability. You might ask applicants about situations where they received tough feedback; you can also take them through a simple roleplay and share your feedback afterward.
Asking candidates to review their performance is equally important. Sales professionals will ramp up faster during training if they can identify their strengths and weaknesses during roleplays. Furthermore, you’ll get a sense of the applicant’s approach to feedback. Do they aim for easy answers, or do they share insightful self-feedback?
Resilience
Some sales roles demand more resilience than others. To hire the right inside sales professional for your team, evaluate their resilience relative to the demands of the role. Generally speaking, cold outreach will require more resilience than warm outreach. Cold-calling means facing constant rejection and lots of tough questions. As such, SDRs who focus on cold calls need to be intensely resilient. BDRs and SDRs who focus on following up with warm leads won’t require as much resilience – but it remains one of the most important skills to evaluate among applicants.
How to Hire the Right Inside Sales Representatives for Your Team
Experience, coachability, and resilience are three of the most important qualities to evaluate for new team members. However, understanding how to hire the right inside sales representatives for your team means prioritizing the skills that are most closely correlated with success for your existing team. To learn how Bandalier evaluates applicants’ skills for different roles, contact us today.
